In the event of an open water emergency

Byline2:

Savannah

Sara Wright/Bluffton Today

Sara Wright/Bluffton TodayA law enforcement officer plunges from a training helicopter into the Colleton River Friday off of Trask Landing in Bluffton, while a rescue boat heads to pick him and others up.

Sara Wright/Bluffton TodayMembers of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office S.W.A.T. Team prepares for water safety training Friday at Trask Landing.

Sara Wright/Bluffton todayAn agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division loses his hat Friday to powerful gusts caused by a training helicopter, while other officers turn away from flying debris.

Sara Wright/Bluffton TodayBeaufort County Sheriff's Office SWAT team members hustle to the helicopter Friday at Trask Landing. Once aboard, they were to be dropped into the Colleton River as part of waterborne operations training.

Harmony Wright/Bluffton TodaySome dragonflies are bigger than others. This 1964 UH-1H ("Huey") is well up to Friday's annual waterborne operations training held by the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.

Sara Wright/Bluffton TodayA helicopter fresh from take off at Trask Landing heads toward the Colleton River to unload its cargo: Beaufort County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team members and other law enforcement officers. Their feet dangle from the copter's left side.

Rigorous training helps ready the law to respond on sea as well as on land.

By Sara Wright

Members of Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office SWAT and dive teams spent the day in their element Friday: water.

It started at a swimming pool on Parris Island, where deputies had to wriggle out of 50 pounds of protective gear in a hurry.

“If he’s not trained to get out of that equipment, he’s going to drown,” said Capt. Scott Johnson, commander of the Special Weapons and Training (SWAT) team.

The majority of all law enforcement takes place on land, Johnson said. However, because Beaufort County roughly 75 percent water, sheriff’s deputies must be on the ready to be deployed on sea as well as on land.

After lunch Friday, trainees gathered at Trask Landing for round two in a full day of rigorous operations.

“They’ve spent the entire morning in the water and now they’re going to go get pushed out of a helicopter into the water,” said Sgt. Robin McIntosh, public information officer for the BCSO.

Once the sun set Friday, the crews would simulate sneaking up on a boat from Haig Point near Daufuskie Island and disarming a hostile crew. The nighttime operation would combine everything the trainees had learned earlier in the day.

It was to render them prepared them for anti-terrorism measures, search and rescue missions, and public safety precautions — all on waterways with heavy boat traffic.

Law enforcement personnel from South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and the Richland County Sheriff’s Office also participated.

The 1964 UH-1H “Huey” copter flew at about 10 knots (11.5 miles per hour), and the human cargo wore helmets, no seat belts. They held on by a thread (okay, a thick rope) until it was time to jump into the river 10 feet below.

As the massive steel dragonfly dropped what appeared to be plastic army men from its belly into the Colleton River, the chopper floated perceptibly higher in the blue sky.

“See how the helicopter gets lighter every time one goes down?” asked a tall, muscled agent with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

While it looked smooth, each falling person actually slammed into the water.

“People don’t realize how hard the water is from a distance,” McIntosh said. “It will disorient you. Depending on how you land, it’s actually pretty painful.”

As soon as the men were in the water, rescuers steered a speed boat from the Department of Natural Resources to gather them up. Meanwhile, the helicopter looped in to pick up another group of helmeted passengers.

With each takeoff and landing, the whirling blades sent grass, sticks and dust flying at hundreds of miles per hour.

“It’s like a mini tornado,” said one young onlooker.

The BCSO has developed and perfected the rigorous tactical training over the years to prepare its SWAT and dive teams to respond to incidents that occur in or involve the water.

“They’ve done this so many times it’s like a science,” McIntosh said.

Other law enforcement agencies in the state have requested to participate and contribute to these exercises, and they’re invited to participate free of charge, Johnson said. The only cost to BCSO, he said, is in personnel overtime.

Pooling the resources has expanded the training capabilities, too.

The “Huey” comes from SLED, DNR provides many of the small craft used in Friday’s exercises, and Haig Point donated the use of the motorboat for the nighttime operations, Johnson said.

“We couldn’t do it without them. This training is very much needed, but it’s also cost effective,” he said.

The dive team is called out more often than search and rescue or tactical deputies, Johnson said. Divers are called to recover the bodies of drowning victims.

Other than the dive team, “we haven’t had a call in the water in a long time,” Johnson said. “About seven or eight years ago a guy shot his wife and was barricaded on Daufuskie,” he said, and the SWAT team had to arrive by boat.

Water operations can be more dangerous to law enforcement officers simply because they don’t get much practice doing their jobs in the drink.

The annual training helps protect them and insures they are ready to dive and recover, to search and rescue, or to fight crime — all in the murky depths.